Flames lament 'terrible' loss to Oilers on home ice

Brian Mcgrattan of the Calgary Flames, left, takes a shot on the jaw from Luke Gazdic of the Edmonton Oilers during the first period fight at the Saddledome Saturday.Ted Rhodes
/ Calgary Herald

Sean Monahan of the Calgary Flames, left, celebrates with teammate Mike Cammalleri after opening the scoring against the Edmonton Oilers in the first period at the Saddledome Saturday.Ted Rhodes
/ Calgary Herald

Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers clogs the crease of Calgary Flames goalie Reto Berra and defenceman Ladislav Smid during the second period at the Saddledome Saturday.Ted Rhodes
/ Calgary Herald

Sven Baertschi of the Calgary Flames is slammed into the boards by Anton Belov of the Edmonton Oilers during the second period at the Saddledome Saturday.Ted Rhodes
/ Calgary Herald

The Edmonton Oilers scored four times in a decisive third period, so critics in town have plenty of material to choose from.

Bob Hartley, coach of the Calgary Flames, zeroed in on two goals in particular:

Jordan Eberle’s rally starter at 3:41 — Taylor Hall had breezed into Calgary territory and slipped a pass to his wide-open friend, who wired home a wrister to make it 2-1. (Ales Hemsky scored four minutes later.)

David Perron’s go-ahead tally at 10:23 — from behind the goal-line, the Oilers forward had lofted a desperation shot that hit goalie Reto Berra in the shoulder and dribbled in. (Boyd Gordon added an empty-netter.)

"We gave them two goals out of (four)," Hartley said during a very brief one-question-and-one-answer media meeting after his team’s 4-2 loss Saturday in National Hockey League action at the Scotiabank Saddledome. "After 40 minutes, I felt we gave them nothing. We were playing our style.

"But the first goal and the third goal — there’s only one word for those two goals. Awful."

That neatly sums up the Flames’ night.

With the collapse, they droop to 6-11-3.

In their last 15 dates, they are 3-11-1.

And the Oilers? They’re no snarling heck, either, having gone 1-9-1 in their previous 11. Which makes the Flames’ latest groaner all the more damning.Post-game, dressing-room inhabitants were stunned.

"Awful," Matt Stajan said when asked about the third period. "We came out and gave them a goal early. After that, they had all the momentum. You can’t play this way in this league. You give that team an inch and they get one? They’re going to take advantage. That’s just a terrible third period by us. I can’t explain it. The last few games, we’re going through spurts where we just fall apart.

"We’ve talked about it and we’re going to have to keep talking about it. You get scored on in this league, you can’t roll over. That’s what’s happened to us the last three games — and it cost us the game tonight against a team that’s struggling over there. It’s unacceptable. There’s not much more to say. We’ve no one to blame but ourselves."

The Flames had jumped into the night with uncharacteristic dash.

On goals by Sean Monahan and Dennis Wideman, they’d led after 40 minutes. The shots were 24-14.

It was exactly the type of game the Flames wanted. They were on their way.

Then it unravelled. In front of a full house, in front of a national television audience.

"We’re upset with ourselves after that one," said Michael Cammalleri. "That’s upsetting. It’s disappointing. We, for sure, feel like we didn’t do the job. I thought we came out with some energy. I thought we were on pucks. I thought we were closing gaps quickly.

"Then . . . really upset with ourselves in the third period. Got to be able to put them away in a game like that. Having that happen to us is inexcusable. We lacked response when they scored. Not good."

And poor Ladislav Smid.

Traded from the Oilers a week ago, he’s experienced home-ice losses to San Jose and Dallas — and now this. Quite an introduction to Calgary.

"We totally changed our game after they scored the first goal," said Smid. "We let our foot off the pedal. We can’t do this. Other teams are going to score some goals against us — that’s going to happen — but we can’t change the style of our game.

"We totally handed the game to them."

The opening period had featured a pair of fights — Brian McGrattan scrapping with heavyweight counterpart Luke Gazdic; Lee Stempniak being pulled into a tussle with Andrew Ference, who’d just been decked by the Flames winger.

This, Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins appreciated.

"I thought Luke Gazdic and Andrew Ference’s responses were excellent," said Eakins, "and went a long way toward igniting our team."

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